I actually think metal bolt actually might be okay - it does quite a bit of damage but not before I really pack some throwing skill into it. I wouldn't be opposed to some experimentation though, it seems pretty great for breaking bones and the like but it's difficult to get a killing blow with it. Seems more like a way of disabling opponents, or in the case of a colossus reliably chipping away at their overall structural integrity. What I'm wondering is if there's a way to get glass/ice spike to cut or penetrate targets, as it stands it seems to only bruise them. Same with the metal bolt actually even when doing massive internal damage it only ever manages to bruise the outer muscle, I think I've only seen a single instance in which something was effectively "torn apart". Quite a few crushed bits though. Lots of fun as a way of disabling a gang of bandits who is rushing me, or alternatively fleeing in separate directions.
And yeah that's what I enjoy about this is that it sort of adds a tactical "control" over the battlefield that sometimes is immensely useful in otherwise lethal situations - but most of the time not so much that it's absolutely foolproof.
A couple of times I have used that "plant flesh" spell on giants to make their tough hides easier to cut through. I thought that was an interesting approach. I tried doing that on a colossus but it turns out they don't have skin. Or blood, come to think of it. Metal skin might be a neat way to go, for a self-cast or a buff for companions.
I just had a situation earlier in which I got into a fight with a dragon in a tiny cave, and naturally to avoid burning I did the fire demon transformation thing - and I was curious how quickly I could get a dragon to burn with magma and the like, if at all. So I went about doing my thing we had a back and forth with fire-based attacks that were ineffective against one another until eventually he just suffocated to death. At this point I was basically missing all my limbs except maybe half an arm or a leg so I inched my way back out the entrance. I don't know what exactly triggered this but for some reason right after I stepped out the cave exploded. Like - a plume of magma exploded out of the entrance and covered me in magma and heated me up so much that no matter how far I crawled I left a trail of fire everywhere I went - until I eventually found a stagnant pond, which brought forth a great cloud of steam which billowed around for awhile - until the pond turned brown and "murky" for some reason, and right in that very moment I zapped back into my original form. So basically I created a volcano? Not sure I understand this since hurling magma doesn't seem to create an instance of magma on the ground, only on the target upon contact. Which is pretty hilarious though, by the way - that until they're officially "on fire" targets will run around doing their thing like normal, when all of a sudden they start smoking. Some targets take longer than others, probably due to what they're wearing.
Also neat! I'm looking forward to trying out the next version.